


Fighting for First (Proposal Shenanigans)

by form_troy_boltron



Series: Ghosts of What We Used to Be universe [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Kick, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Voltron, broganes, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-15 16:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16066964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/form_troy_boltron/pseuds/form_troy_boltron
Summary: Keith wants to propose to Lance. Lance wants to propose to Keith. They both go to hilarious lengths to avoid the other's proposal because they want to be first.This takes place three years after Adam and Shiro's wedding in my AU. Enjoy!





	Fighting for First (Proposal Shenanigans)

Keith nervously runs his thumb over his index finger, trying to work up the courage to propose to the blue-eyed cuban boy strolling beside him. They decided to rent a cabin on Varadero Beach for just the two of them. Surprisingly enough, despite getting painfully sunburnt, trying to fight a squid (Keith still claims that the squid started it), and getting stung by a jellyfish, Keith has really enjoyed himself. Over the past six days, Lance has taken Keith scuba diving, snorkeling, surfing, sailing, and stargazing. They've raced on jet skis, explored coral reefs, enjoyed local food, watched the sunsets together, and, in short, they've had a perfect vacation. _And what better way to end a perfect vacation_ , Keith thinks, _than by proposing_? 

Lance has noticed the change in Keith's demeanor, but isn't sure why his boyfriend seems so nervous all of a sudden. "Man, what a beautiful night! Isn't it just gorgeous out here?" Keith just nods and looks down, pressing his toes into the soft sand. Lance frowns. He starts to ask Keith if he's okay, but then he finally notices the box in Keith's pocket.  _OhmygodhewantstoPROPOSE!!! That's why he's so nervous,_ Lance thinks, feeling warmth flood into his cheeks. But the fuzzy feeling of love quickly fades when Lance realizes _oh no, Keith wants to_ propose _! No, this can't happen!_ I'm _supposed to be the one who proposes!_ Panicking, Lance does the first thing that comes to mind; he pushes Keith into the ocean, yells, "EAT SHIT, MULLET," and proceeds to violently splash a very confused Keith. 

It isn't exactly Lance's finest moment. But hey, it works. Because of his competitive drive, Keith forgets all about the proposal, and only focuses on splash-fighting Lance for the rest of the night.

When they finally go back to the cabin and once Keith falls asleep, Lance slips out of bed and reaches into his blue suitcase, retrieving a small black box. A silver ring, inlaid with small black diamonds surrounding a large red diamond, lies inside of it. The Mer had forged the ring at his request, returning the favor for when he'd helped to save their planet from the Baku. Lance sighs in relief and tucks into his pocket. "I'm going to have to start taking you with me," Lance whispers to it. He's about to grab some of the leftover flan from earlier, but suddenly, Keith cries out loudly. Lance rushes back to the bedroom, where Keith flails around in the sheets.

"Shiro... You're my brother. I love you," Keith whimpers. Lance grabs him by his shoulders and shakes him violently. His violet eyes fly open and scan the room wildly, then settle on Lance, whose eyes are filled with concern. 

"Still the same nightmare?" Keith nods. Lance flops down next to Keith and pulls him close. Even though it's been seven years since it happened, Keith still occasionally has nightmares about his fight with Kuron. Lance is always able to calm his boyfriend down afterwards, reminding him that it was just a dream, that Shiro's back now, and that he's safe. 

Sometimes, Keith has to do the same for Lance. Every once in a while, the red paladin sees that galra fighter flying straight towards him and his sister, or he sees Allura, about to be killed by that blue energy beam and rushes in to save her, and he relives those experiences in his dreams. But when he wakes up, not sure if he's dead or alive, Keith is always there for him. Lance glances down at Keith, who's snuggled into his chest, now sleeping peacefully, and lets himself fall asleep to the sound of the ocean.

Keith wakes up first. In a daze, he lays against Lance's chest, enjoying the other man's warmth. Slowly, Keith remembers the events of last night: the walk along the beach, the splash fight, how nervous he was to pro- _Oh my god, the ring!_ Keith sits bolt upright and frantically digs around in his pockets. He sighs in relief when he feels the familiar shape of the box, which, miraculously, wasn't washed out of his pocket.  _Next time, I'm not going to get distracted._

*** * ***

But next time, as Keith finds out, is very hard to come by. In the next month, whenever Keith suggests an evening walk through the Garrison's park, a nice candlelit dinner at Hunk's restaurant, or anything where he might be able to have a romantic proposal, Lance makes some excuse not to go. It's really starting to frustrate Keith because he doesn't know why Lance seems to be avoiding going on dates with him. 

Lance has actually asked Keith on a couple of dates where he thought he might be able to propose, but, due to some outside circumstances, Keith hasn't been able to go on those dates. 

"I think he knows," Lance mutters anxiously. He's made time to hang out with Hunk consistently throughout the years, but recently, his visits have become more frequent. 

Hunk rolls his eyes, giving the batter in front of him a stir. "So what if he knows? Isn't that the whole point of this, that he knows you want to marry him?"

"No! Well, yes," Lance says, "but if he knows, that means he's going to try and propose before me! He's been trying ever since we went to Varadero!"

"Have you considered that if he knew, he might just... I dunno... let you propose?" Lance stares pointedly at Hunk, and the yellow paladin sighs. "Right, I forgot. You're 'rivals'. Neither of you can settle for second place. Why don't you ask Adam?"

"Adam?" Lance repeats, surprised.

"Yeah, at the wedding, remember how Matt was talking about how they had a rivalry at first? He might be able to help you better than me in this situation." Lance thanks his friend and leaves, and Hunk goes back to baking cinnamon rolls. He's just putting the first batch in the oven when he hears loud, frantic knocking at the back door. Hunk opens up to see Shiro, trying (unsuccessfully) to calm down a very agitated Keith.

"Now Keith, I think you might be overrea-" Shiro is saying when Hunk opens the door. 

"Hey you two, long time no-"

"huuuUUUUUUuuuUUUNKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Keith screams, and tackles him to the ground. "DID YOU KNOW ABOUT- LANCE IS TRYING TO- I CANNOT BELIEVE- RED DIAMOND- HE CAN'T-" 

Shiro sighs, grabs the back of Keith's neck with his bionic arm, and pulls him off of Hunk, who's very confused. The arm suspends Keith in midair, and Shiro offers his other hand to Hunk, who uses it to stand. “Sorry about him,” Shiro says, “he’s a bit excited. You see, Keith invited me over because he was worried about Lance not wanting to go on dates with him. He started to get all insecure, and of course, I was reassuring him, but he happened to look in Lance’s drawer for a pen, but he found-“

”I found a ring- Shiro, put me down, I’m calm now,” Keith interrupts, and Shiro’s arm drops him. “Hunk, do you think he... wants to marry me? Ow! Hey,” Keith complains as Shiro smacks him. Sometimes, Shiro can’t believe how dense his little brother can be. 

“What Keith is trying to say is, do you know if this has anything to do with why Lance has been avoiding going on dates?”

”Lance may have mentioned the proposal once or twice,” Hunk says nonchalantly. “Knowing him, he probably knows that you want to propose, and he wants to do it first. So that’s most likely why it seems like he’s avoiding you.”

"Okay, thanks," Keith says, relieved. "Sorry to interrupt you while you're working, we'll head out now."

"I don't mind the company, you can stay as long as you like. Tuesday is the slowest day here."

"Sorry, but we can't stay- Keith has to go and clean up the house so Lance doesn't freak out when he gets home, and Adam finally talked me in to going rollerskating with him," Shiro says ruefully. "Hey, do you still have the scans you did on Adam's leg? Because I might need a new leg after this."

Keith rolls his eyes and scoffs. "Shiro, please. You and Adam are going to be all over each other- more so than usual, anyway. You're not going to fall."

The two men say their farewells to Hunk, but not before he sends them off with four fresh cinnamon rolls- one for each of them, and one for their dates. He waits until their hoverbikes are two small specks in the distance, then heads into a side room which serves as his office. It's not much, just a desk, chair, and a couple of filing cabinets, but it's private. Reaching into a drawer, he pulls out his phone, sits down, and taps the screen a few times. Soon enough, a bespectacled brunette appears on the screen. Before she can even say hello, Hunk excitedly says, "Pidge, _it's happening_. This is not a drill!"

"What did our two lovestruck dorks do now? Tell me everything, Hunk!"

**Meanwhile, at the Shirogane household...**

Adam is sitting on the couch with his coffee doing a sudoku puzzle when he hears the knock. He isn't expecting anyone, so at first he just ignores it, thinking it's just some door-to-door salesman. But as the knocking continues, Adam sighs, puts down his mug and puzzle book, and gets up to open the door. He's greeted by a nervous-looking Lance.

"Lance," Adam says, surprised, "what are you doing here?" Then, with a grin, he says, "Did you come back for a rematch for Just Dance 15? If you did, I hope you're ready to get your ass handed to you."

The younger man chuckles and responds, "While I am looking for redemption for last time, that's not why I'm here. It's about Keith." Adam motions for him to come inside, and they both settle on the couch. As Lance explains the latest development in the proposal situation (which Adam has been hearing about ever since Lance got back from his vacation), Adam listens attentively. When he finishes his story, Lance leans back and sighs, looking up at the ceiling. "What should I do, Adam?"

"This all sounds awfully familiar," Adam admits. "Did I ever tell you about the proposal war between Takashi and I?" Lance shakes his head, intrigued. 

"We both knew the other was planning to propose, and we both wanted to propose first. So we kept avoiding possible situations in which the other might want to propose. I, at least, had decent excuses most of the time, but Takashi... well... he wasn't very used to lying, and certainly wasn't good at it. One time, he said he couldn't go on a walk with me because the houseplants would miss him too much!

"That went on for a couple of months, but one time, he almost got me. We were in the teachers' lounge, having lunch together, and he suddenly started talking about the future, and how he wanted to spend it with me. I saw him reaching into his pocket for the ring, and I panicked. Fortunately for me, there was a big jar of peanut butter out on the table-"

"Wait, aren't you allergic to peanuts?!"

Adam smirks. "Exactly. I was able to eat two large spoonfuls before he managed to take the jar from me, but he was too late. I was already swelling up and starting to break out in hives, and it felt like my throat was closing up. I spent the next three days in the Garrison hospital."

" _Dude_ ," Lance says, awestruck.

"After that stunt, I knew I had to act fast. I didn't want to have risked my life avoiding his proposal just for him to propose to me again. I was released from the hospital at about nine in the morning on the third day, and the first thing I did was go to my room and get the ring. Then I barged into his class, got down on one knee, and proposed right there in front of the students. He complained for years, saying that I cheated by using my allergy, but hey, it worked!" They both laugh, but then Lance sighs.

”Does it ever bother you- that it wasn’t like you imagined it?”

Adam looks Lance in the eye, then puts a hand on his shoulder. “Look, I know you want your proposal to be perfect. I did too. But you know what? No matter the circumstances in which you propose, Keith’s still going to love you.” Lance looks at Adam gratefully.

”Thank you, Adam.” Lance smiles softly, and Adam feels a pang of grief as he’s reminded of his little brother. Adam's entire family had been in India, visiting his mom's side of the family, when the invasion began. The only reason he hadn't been with them was because the Garrison had him working round-the-clock on either teaching new pilots, analyzing the Altean tech plans Sam brought home, or fortifying the Garrison defenses. When he found out about the invasion, it was already too late- India was one of the first places hit, and the Galra didn't start taking prisoners until the second week of fighting, according to Iverson. Of course, Adam hadn't had time to mourn on Earth because he was the first to volunteer when the Galra started approaching the Garrison. The long nights that came after, spent alone in a dark, cramped cell, is when the loss finally hit him.

There were times where he thought of giving up, but after Adam's first dose of Quintessence from Haggar, he'd had a dream where he met all of them in an endless field of stars*. Adam was able to wrap his brothers up in a hug one last time, feel his parents' warm embrace again, and ultimately, was able to say goodbye- but not before they all gave him the strength to keep fighting. While he still mourned, Adam learned to use his grief to keep surviving. And he’s glad he did- after all, he wouldn’t have gotten this second chance with Takashi or met Team Voltron if he’d died at Haggar’s hands. Being with all of them, Adam doesn’t feel so alone.

”Anytime, Lance. I’m glad you’re comfortable enough to come to me about this stuff," Adam says, returning Lance's smile. Just then, the front door swings open.

"Hey loser, guess who got free cinnamon rolls from Hunk?" Shiro yells, barging through the doorway. "I'd better get a kiss for this," he adds, then notices Lance. "Oh, hey Lance! How've you been?"

"Alright," Lance replies, "but I'm still kinda stressed about proposing to Keith."

"Don't worry, Lance," Shiro says, giving him a pat on the back. "You know how much Keith loves you. Just wait until the moment's right- trust me, you'll know- and tell him how you feel." Lance gets up and thanks Shiro, then leaves. As soon as the door closes behind him, Adam turns and raises an eyebrow at his husband.

"So, what is it? You've had that look on your face, like you want to tell me something but you can't, ever since you got home."

"Adam," Shiro whispers excitedly, eyes lighting up, "Keith found Lance's ring! That might give him a sense of urgency, and he might finally propose!"

"Or it could just complicate things and make it take even longer, what with Keith now intentionally avoiding Lance's proposal attempts," Adam grumbles. "Now come on, there's a pair of roller skates with your name on them waiting at the rink."

*** * ***

As usual, Adam is right. Over six months later, neither of them have had the chance to pop the question. But that's about to change.

All of the paladins, Coran, Adam, and the Holts have gotten together on Earth to give Pidge a nice homecoming dinner. She's moving back to Earth to integrate all she learned from the Olkari into Earth tech, and the whole team is thrilled to have the green paladin back. But Pidge's request for her first dinner back on Earth was a little strange. When Hunk had asked her about where she wanted the dinner to be (after suggesting a whole slew of fancy restaurants), Pidge had tilted her head, thought for a moment, and said, "McDonald's." 

So here they are, sitting in the nearest McDonald's to the Garrison, enjoying greasy fast food together. After a brief summary of her time on Olkarion, Pidge tells the team how much she missed them all, and how great it is to see them again through bites of her fish burger. Everyone enjoys catching up with each other and eating, although the Alteans are a bit skeptical about this kind of Earth food (but they both order several milkshakes.) Everything seems to be normal, although Keith seems somewhat quiet. But hey, that's pretty normal, right?

After downing seven cups of soda (much to Hunk's distress), Lance excuses himself to use the bathroom. Keith's eyes follow every step he takes. As soon as Lance is in the bathroom, Keith says, "Shiro. Block the door." The Atlas captain is concerned (and slightly terrified, considering who this vague order is coming from), but Keith answers his question before Shiro can even ask it. He reaches into his pocket, retrieves the black felt box within, making sure that the entire group can see it, and says, with as much dramatic flair as possible, "I'm not leaving here without asking him. He can't run away if you help me, Shiro."

Keith didn't expect the entire group to come with him and block the bathroom exit, but he's kind of grateful. He waits until he hears the sink turn on, then throws open the door, making Lance jump. Lance turns to see Keith striding towards him confidently, and is confused when he sees the rest of the group in the doorway. He's even more confused when he notices half of them have their phones out and seem to be recording this. Keith grabs Lance's wrists, drops down on one knee, and says (unintentionally) forcefully, "Lance. Marry me."

Poor Lance is so shocked that he can only manage a small "O...kay?" Grinning smugly, Keith slides the ring onto Lance's finger and kisses him.

Everyone cheers, and Lance finally comes to his senses. He starts to yell at Keith, because  _why would you propose in a McDonald's bathroom_ , but Keith just laughs. He punches Lance's arm playfully.

"Looks like I beat you to it, Sharpshooter. Now let's get married."


End file.
